NANTUCKET - More than 100 scallopers and volunteers fanned out along harborfront beaches over the weekend to gather scallops and scallop seed - immature scallops - and return them to the water.

The scallops were blown onto the beach and the shallows of Nantucket Harbor during the powerful nor'easter that slammed Nantucket last week Fishermen and marine officials believe it was among the largest scallop stranding events in years.

Nantucket Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board Chairman Peter Brace estimated that the scallopers and volunteers collected more than 2,000 bushels of scallops along the harbor beaches.

The scallops were stranded all along the Polpis shoreline, from Monomoy to as far east as Pocomo and Wauwinet, where additional crews of scallopers and volunteers were working to collect them.

Several scallopers were using their boats to ferry the baskets of seed scallops from the beaches out into deeper harbor waters.